


Confusion

by Reader115



Series: Promise series [2]
Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-06
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-12 06:41:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,192
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5656321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reader115/pseuds/Reader115
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Begins one year after 'Promise' - Trouble comes from unexpected sources. 2nd story in a continuation series. I do not own the turtles.</p><p>Originally posted on FF site from Jul 6, 2015 - Jul 13, 2015</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Raph heard a metallic clanging noise and groaned. He had one main goal on the weekends that he and Leo came out to the farmhouse – wake up before Leo.

He reached over and felt the space beside him, hoping he'd feel Leo's sleeping body even though he knew by the noise downstairs that it would be empty. He sat up quickly and made his way down to the kitchen where an unsupervised Leonardo was doing his best to cook breakfast. Raph leaned against the kitchen door frame, crossed his arms and did his best to glare at Leo.

"Did you turn off my alarm?" Raph asked, watching Leo add some questionable things – hopefully food – to the eggs he had in the pan on the stovetop.

Leo grinned at him. "I know you like to cook for us but I thought I'd surprise you."

"I don't like to cook," Raph muttered, frowning as he watched Leo dump a bucket load of salt onto the eggs. "It's more like a necessity so we don't die."

Leo's excellent hearing caught the mutterings and he narrowed his eyes at Raphael. "You're going to love this."

"Have you touched the toaster or the microwave? Cause you know Don's not gonna want to have to sit and fix those things when they all get here later. It's supposed to be a vacation for everyone."

"No, I have not," Leo said curtly as he turned his attention back to his egg creation. "I asked Mike how to make you an omelet, the way you like it, before we left."

Raphael considered this. On the one hand, it was incredibly thoughtful of Leo to secretly try to learn how Raph liked his eggs. But sweet or not, teaching Leonardo how to do something in the kitchen never ended with Leo actually making something edible. The guy couldn't even make toast without setting off the smoke alarm and breaking the damn toaster. Every. Single. Time.

On the other hand, knowing Mike and his love of pranks, he could've taught Leo the absolute worst way to cook eggs for Raph and Leo wouldn't have any idea that he was being duped into poisoning his mate.

There was only one thing to do, Raph realized, watching Leo's eager face as he dumped his creation onto a plate for Raph. He was going to have to eat the eggs.

He moved his feet towards the kitchen table, mournfully eyeing the cereal box sitting on top of the fridge, and sat down. Leo leaned forward and kissed his forehead before leaving his side to get him some orange juice.

Raph looked down at the plate in front of him. Some of it was eggs. Mostly blackened eggs. The rest, well, he eyed it warily, silently swearing to kill Michelangelo the next time he saw him.

"You're not gonna eat?" Raph asked, killing time as Leo sat next to him at the table.

"I'll get some cereal in a minute. You know I don't really like eggs," Leo said, looking excitedly at the plate in front of Raph.

Lucky bastard, Raph thought, picking up his fork. He began giving himself a pep talk. He'd fought aliens and evil ninja soldiers. Surely he could swallow some eggs.

He began digging into the egg creation with his fork, maneuvering as much onto the fork as possible. He figured if he got enough on the fork at one time, he could even have this whole plate down in three bites. He eyed the plate again. Maybe four.

He sent Leo what he hoped was a grateful look and lifted the first forkful towards his mouth.

"Stop!" Leo said, grabbing his wrist and pushing his hand back down to his plate, scattering eggs across the table.

He whipped his confused face to Leo and was met with a kiss. He felt Leo's hand trace the curve of his face and then reach to the back of his neck to pull him closer. Leo's other hand fell to Raph's leg and began sliding up his thigh.

Leo pulled back slightly and smirked at Raph. "Were you really going to eat those eggs?"

Raph glanced down at the plate of eggs again before narrowing his eyes at Leo. "My _loving_ mate made them for me. Of course I was gonna eat them." His breathing quickened as Leo's hand traveled further up his leg and reached the crease where his leg met his plastron. "Did you really ask Mike how I like my eggs?"

"Yes I did," Leo said absently as he traced the crease at the top of Raph's leg with one finger. He smiled when he watched Raph shiver. "And then Mikey made me practice making them back at the lair and I set the kitchen on fire."

Raph laughed despite himself.

"And Mike advised that I find another way to impress you that doesn't include the kitchen at all," Leo said, running his other hand from the back of Raph's neck down the front of his plastron to give the crease at the top of his other leg the same treatment. "But I was pretty sure I could come up with something that did involve the kitchen." He leaned forward and began kissing along Raph's jawline.

"You've never backed down from a challenge," Raph rasped out. He glanced down and eyed the plate again. "So why make me these eggs?"

"Just to see if you'd actually agree to eat them," Leo said, grinning up at Raph before refocusing his attention on the emerald neck in front of him. "Don't think I don't know why you get out of bed so damn early here."

"That's a mean trick, Fearless," Raph said, scowling back at Leo's grinning face.

"I know," Leo said, sliding his hands down to Raph's knees so he could push the emerald legs apart before he slid to his own knees on the floor in front of Raph. "But I'm going to make it up to you." He kissed his way down Raph's plastron before he stopped and looked up at Raph's face. He took in the panting breaths and the half-lidded green eyes and thought for the millionth time about what a beautiful creature Raphael was. Still, he couldn't resist teasing him one more time, "Unless you'd like me to get your cereal ready for you?"

Raph growled at him and shook his head, pushing on Leo's shoulder before he rested one hand on the shoulder as the other traced Leo's face. He brushed his thumb back and forth on Leo's cheek and smiled softly at him.

"I'm gonna skip breakfast this morning," Raph whispered to him.

Leo's eyes left his face and eyed his slit as one of his thumbs traced lightly over it. Raph shivered again as he watched Leo lick his lips. "I'm not," Leo answered back.


	2. Chapter 2

Raph sat on the front porch swing and used one of his feet to keep the swing moving as he watched Leonardo move through another set of katas down by the water. His heart swelled in an embarrassingly sappy way as he watched Leo's perfect movements.

Raph preferred to take a break from training on their weekend trips to the farmhouse whereas he knew better than to suggest to Leo that he do the same. He was pretty content to sit and watch Leo anyway.

He pushed off and got the swing moving again. It reminded him of swinging himself to sleep in his old hammock. He preferred sleeping with Leo but still missed his hammock. He'd managed to get Leo in the hammock a few times over the past year that they'd been together, but it wasn't really big enough to allow both of them to sleep comfortably.

He would've let himself doze off there on the moving swing if he wasn't waiting for the rest of their clan to arrive. He and Leo had arrived a few days ago to have some time to themselves as part of Raph's request for his birthday this year, but they were about to be joined by their father, brothers, Woody and Sadie and April and Casey.

Raph frowned as he thought of Casey. Things hadn't been normal between him and Casey for a while. He'd met up with Casey on one of their nights out last year and had finally decided to tell Casey that he was in a relationship with Leo.

_"What do you mean you're with Leo?" Casey asked, staring hard at Raph. This seemed like a prank that Mikey would pull, not Raphael. "Like yer bangin Leo? Yer overly-bossy, pain in the shell big brother?"_

_Raph cringed a little but kept eye contact with Casey. "He's not overly-bossy. Well, not all the time," he attempted a smile. "And he's not technically my brother."_

_"You hate Leo. He drives you crazy," Casey said, incredulously. "Most of the time yer out here with me just get away from him!"_

_"I don't hate him. I've never hated him. I was just avoiding him because I've always loved him."_

_Casey swung his hockey stick at nothing and then glared at Raph again._

_Raph leaned back against the edge of the roof they were on, crossed his arms and scowled back. This wasn't going as well as he would've hoped. But he was willing to give Case a bit of time to adjust to the news._

_"Is this gonna be a problem?"_

_Casey stared off over the building tops next to them. "No."_

_"Then what are you upset about?" Raph asked. He thought about Casey's reaction so far and realized almost everything Casey had said only centered on Leo._

_Casey turned suddenly and practically marched up to Raphael. Raph stared at his friend as he invaded his personal space. Casey placed one of his hands on one of Raph's upper arms and seemed to stare at the emerald bicep under his fingers for a minute before his eyes rose to meet Raph's eyes. He leaned forward but was stopped by a strong hand on his chest pushing him backwards._

_"What are you doin, Jones?" Raph growled out at him._

_"I had no idea you swung towards guys," Casey said, catching his feet under him to remain standing after Raph's push. "I just think you should consider all of your options before settling for one of yer brothers."_

_Raph stared hard at his friend. "It's not that I swing towards guys. Or girls," he bit out. "Just Leo."_

_"I still think you should think about it," Casey said, before turning and taking off for another rooftop._

Raph had watched him leave and instead of chasing after him, he'd turned and gone home. He hadn't talked about it with Leo. And he hadn't met up with Casey more than a handful of times over the last year unless he could casually talk one of his brothers into joining them.

Leo had noticed the change and when he brought it up with Raph, Raph would just squeeze him to his side and tell him he'd rather hang out with Leo in his free time, which was true, even if he did miss his old friend.

Raph's eyes narrowed on the end of the farmhouse's long driveway as Casey's motorcycle and the shellraiser came into view. Master Splinter had requested this time away for all of them and with April's college classes out for spring break, she had happily volunteered to host them all at the farmhouse for a long weekend.

He stood and stretched, glancing again at Leo whose head had turned in the direction of the vehicle although it hadn't interrupted the rest of his movements.

Casey parked his bike next to Raphael's and he and April hopped off as the shellraiser's doors flew open as soon as the vehicle was put into park. Mikey jumped out, dragging Woody quickly behind him, talking faster than the words could come out of his mouth about the top five best things about the farmhouse. Raph managed to nod a greeting to Woody who could only grin at him before Mikey had them dashing across the field towards Leo.

Raph reached forward and helped Master Splinter out of the van, giving his father an uncharacteristic side hug as he heard his father mumble something about Michelangelo and his incessant chatter during the entire trip.

Don and Sadie were still sitting in the front of the van but Raph could hear them laughing together about something so he left them to it and went to the back of the vehicle to begin collecting the luggage and groceries. Casey met him back there. Raph watched his buddy out of the corner of his eye. Casey didn't say anything to him, but Raph noticed that he looked relaxed. He lifted his hockey bag out, grinned at Raph and then headed into the house after April and Master Splinter. Raph let out a breath he wasn't aware he'd been holding and felt relieved. Hopefully this meant Casey had adjusted and maybe they could go back to normal. He was willing to forget Casey's strange behavior if it meant getting his friend back.

Raph lugged some of the bags inside and when he came back out he heard loud yelling followed by a splash. He turned and saw Mike laughing by the edge of the pond and then saw Leo and Woody break the surface of the water and start yelling at him.

Raph debated. Should he carry the rest of their heavy crap inside, or go join his mate in the water?

He began running towards the water, past Donnie and Sadie who were headed that way, and hit Mikey's legs before Mike even knew he was a target, causing him to go flying into the water with Raph.

Raph broke the surface laughing. Mike came up sputtering with a hurt puppy dog expression. He made his way to Woody for comfort only to be splashed.

"You may get to walk around naked, Mikester, but I'm fully dressed! My clothes feel like they weigh 100 pounds!" Woody said, splashing him again before allowing Mikey close enough to pull him into a hug.

"I won't let you sink, Woody," Mikey said, grinning at him.

Leo pulled himself out of the pond and winked at Raph before heading up the farmhouse to help unload the rest of the bags and say hello to their father. He greeted Sadie and Don as he passed them. He watched Sadie sit at the edge of the pond as Donnie dove straight into the water, then laughed as Mike and Raph were both pulled under by their ankles.

The group of them played in the water until April called them all in for dinner. The kitchen table only sat so many so they all sprawled out across the kitchen and living room with plates of food. Leo leaned his shell against Raph's shell as they sat on the ground eating off the coffee table.

"Woody brought that surprise you requested, Leo," Don said. "If you guys go outside and start the bonfire, I'll go get it."

Leo's grin in response made Raph immediately nervous. But he didn't get to ask as he was dragged to his feet to go outside.

Raph and Casey were charged with collecting firewood and the two walked towards the woods together. Raph glanced at him again from the corner of his eye.

"What?" Casey asked.

"Just tryin to see what kind of mood yer in," Raph said.

"I'm in a great mood," Casey said. "I really needed to get out of the city."

"Why? You love the city." Raph started loading up his arms with firewood.

"Just needed a break."

"From?"

"Don't worry about it, man," Casey said. He added firewood to the pile in Raph's arms. "That should do it for tonight."

"Think you can handle your part of the firewood?" Raph asked, eyeing the one stick Casey had while he had an armful.

"Don't hate just because I'm smart enough to bring a strong friend on a firewood run, ya loser," Casey said, laughing as he ran back towards the firepit just in case Raph decided to heave the firewood in his direction.

Raph brought the firewood back and began stacking it in the pit before he settled down next to Leo. "Alright, what's the surprise, Fearless?" Raph asked, watching Leo's small grin grow as he tried to avoid making eye contact with Raphael.

The rest of their group had come outside and were all starting to encircle the firepit as well. Casey pulled out a box of matches and began lighting some newspapers to get the fire going.

"You're going to like it," Leo said, pulling Raphael closer to him.

"As much as I liked my egg-surprise breakfast?" Raph grumbled.

"Oh, dude," Mikey said, laughing. "I told him not to cook for you!"

"You too, Woody?" Leo asked, watching Woody's face turn red with the effort of not laughing.

"Sorry, Leo," Woody managed through his chortles. "But I was there when you made the practice batch. I've never seen anyone set a kitchen on fire using just a whisk."

"He didn't even have the stove top turned on?" Sadie asked.

"We hadn't made it that far in the lesson!" Mike said, practically falling over with laughter.

"It's not _that_ funny," Leo said, dryly, trying to ignore Raphael's silent laughter which was making the entire emerald body next to him shake.

"Raph!" April said, "I told you that you guys could come out here alone only if you kept Leo away from the kitchen!"

"Hey!" Leo said. He even heard Master Splinter try to stifle laughter.

"What'd he break?" April asked. "You know Don's going to be pissed."

"He actually managed to not break anything," Raph said, hoping Leo appreciated him sticking up for him, even if he was laughing almost too hard to get the words out. "Although, he did waste some eggs."

"I'm right here," Leo muttered. "And yes, you will like this more than your omelet. I asked Donnie to bring your birthday present since I couldn't secretly fit it on the bike when we came out."

Raph perked up and smiled at Leo, earning himself a rub on the back of his neck from his mate.

Donnie came outside then and it was dark enough that Raph could see he was carrying something awkwardly behind his back although he couldn't tell what it was until Donnie stopped in front of him and handed the guitar case to him.

"What?" Raph said, taking the guitar case and shooting his eyes to Leo.

"You play enough Guitar Hero with Mike," Leo said, "I thought you might like to try the real thing."

"How did you –," Raph said, feeling too shocked to finish his sentence. He pulled the wooden guitar out and ran his fingers over it.

"Woody helped," Leo said. "He brought his own guitar this weekend too. Said he could give you some lessons."

Raph grinned over at Woody before turning his attention back to Leo. He realized he still hadn't said much and Leo was watching him warily with his shoulders slightly hunched forward as if he was trying to decide if Raph actually liked the gift. He forgot about the others for a moment and leaned over and quickly kissed Leo in thanks.

"I thought you'd like it," Leo said, relaxing his shoulders back.

"Yeah, I love it. And you, ya dork."

Woody pulled his guitar out from seemingly nowhere and began to strum a few chords. Leo settled into Raph's side as they listened to the fire crackle as Woody and Sadie began to sing. The rest of the group eventually joined in, although they switched from loud rock songs to quieter songs when Master Splinter excused himself to bed. However, they soon became loud again as they giggled their way through some of the lyrics.

When Raphael realized Leo's eyes were starting to droop and he was leaning more and more into Raph's side, he nudged his partner up on his feet and led him upstairs to their room. One of the perks of being with the clan leader meant they always got to claim a bedroom in the four bedroom farmhouse. Master Splinter had his own room and April and Casey of course had a room since it was April's farmhouse. That left one room which was designated for their "guests" – Woody and Sadie. Although Raphael was pretty sure he'd find Woody downstairs on the couch in the morning slumped together with Mike and he was pretty sure he'd find Donnie missing after sneaking into the fourth bedroom to stay with Sadie. He wasn't really sure why they were making the distinction of designating the room for their guests other than to avoid having Mike and Don fight over who got to claim it.

Leo let Raphael lead them into their room and didn't protest as Raph began pulling his gear off of him. "This day was partly your birthday celebration," he said. "I'm supposed to be taking care of you."

"You've taken great care of me today," Raph said, keeping his voice low as he slid off Leo's elbow pads. "You do so much for me, Leonardo. I hope I do the same for you."

Leo wrapped his arms around Raph's neck and pulled him close. "I need you, Raphael. Don't you know that by now?" He kissed him then and welcomed Raph's tongue in his mouth before he pulled back to say, "I need you to pull me out of my own head." Another kiss. "And I need you to look at me with that smile you save only for me." He kissed down to Raph's neck, shivering from the hands that were running up and down his sides. "I need this emerald skin pressed against mine," he whispered. "I need the heat that radiates off of you."

Raphael flushed at Leo's words, feeling extremely pleased. He shifted his hands to Leo's shell and pulled him hard against him, earning him a small moan from the leader. "Are you trying to sweet talk me into bed, Leo?" Raph asked, smirking as he moved his head to the side to give Leo better access to his neck.

Leo made a sound that was very close to a snort. "I'm pretty sure I just have to bat my eyes at you to get you into bed," he said in a teasing tone.

"Is that so?" Raph said, trying and failing to scowl and not smile.

Leo traced his tongue against an especially sensitive spot on Raph's neck as a churr escaped him, vibrating against the pressure point and resulting in Raphael quickly pushing him down on the bed. He flipped Leo on his plastron and hitched his hips up in the air so he could use one hand to fondle Leo's tail while the other rubbed over the smooth skin of his mate's perfect ass. He heard Leo let out a deep sigh and smiled as he traced his fingers over his entrance. Leo pushed his hips back for more contact but Raph's hand moved to the front of his plastron and began teasing over his slit instead.

Leo had his head resting on his arms and he tried to silence a moan. His breathing quickened as Raph's fingers became more insistent until he finally dropped down into Raph's hand. Raph stroked him until he heard small moans leave his mate. He leaned around Leo and pulled the lube they had left under the pillows so he could cover his fingers before moving his hand back to Leo's entrance. His fingers were teasing, pressing in and out without a consistent pattern, and when Leo rocked back towards him again for more contact, he once again left his ass and moved his hand back to stroking Leo again.

"Raph," Leo whimpered, nudging himself back towards Raph.

"You still think you can bat yer eyes at me to get me into bed?" Raph asked, his tone husky as he began to stroke himself as well as Leo.

Leo grinned into his own arms as he finally realized the reason for Raph's teasing fingers. "Yes," he said.

"Well yer right," Raph said, thrusting himself into Leo's ass. Leo shoved a hand into his mouth to keep from crying out. "Don't make you any less of a smug jerk, though," he said grinning, as he quickened his movements. His ability to speak was lost after that as he was lost in the feeling of being inside Leonardo. He reached around and began stroking Leo again as he listened to Leo hoarsely whisper out his name with each thrust.

He felt Leo began to twitch and he sped up his movements so that when Leo's muscles tightened around him with his own release, he would be right behind him. He collapsed on top of Leo's shell, pressing the leader further down into the bed with a loud grunt.

When he was able to, he rolled off Leo's shell and then pulled the still panting Leo up into his side. "I'm never gonna get enough of this," he whispered to Leo. "Never gonna get enough of you."

"Good," Leo whispered back. "Cause me neither."


	3. Chapter 3

Michelangelo opened one eye halfway to glance at Woody sitting next to him. Woody's curly hair looked golden in the sunlight. He was sketching something, biting his lower lip as he concentrated, while his head went back and forth, looking at the distant horizon and then back to his paper. Mikey loved how even though Woody hadn't been to work at the pizza place for the past 3 days, he still managed to smell like tomato sauce. Mikey let out a contented sigh and closed his eye again.

The sigh drew Woody's attention and he glanced down at Mikey sprawled out next to him in the grass. For most people, Mike's actions would just be called relaxing in the sun, but Woody was pretty sure basking was the correct term for his turtle boyfriend. Woody watched Mikey basking and began to wonder why he was trying to sketch a landscape when this adorable creature was laid out next to him. He grinned, flipped his paper over and began to sketch the happy turtle instead.

"I've never seen him sit still for that long," April said.

"Unless he's asleep," Don said, "although even then he can be kind of fidgety."

"He's only that still when he's been knocked unconscious," Leo said.

"It's gotta be Woody," Raph said. "Maybe he slips him sleeping pills."

Sadie laughed, coming up to the group peering out one of the farmhouse windows. "Woody has a calming effect on most people. Completely natural. No drugs required," she said, laughing again.

Don reached over and grabbed her hand. "You still free to help me with the shellraiser, Raph?" he asked.

Raph nodded, kissing Leo quickly before he followed Don and Sadie out to the barn.

Leo turned to April and caught her staring at Don and Sadie's clasped hands as they walked away. "Where's Casey?" he asked, realizing he hadn't seen him all day. He hadn't shown up to have breakfast with the rest of the group. Leo had assumed he was still asleep upstairs.

"He slept in the barn last night," April said. "He's probably still out there. I'm sure whatever they're about to do with the shellraiser will wake him in no time." She turned and headed into the kitchen before Leo could ask any more questions.

***********************************************************************************************************************************  
Don watched Sadie plop down at his old makeshift lab desk there in the barn with her laptop before he popped the hood of the shellraiser so he and Raph could get to work fixing a belt that seemed to have come loose on the drive out to the farmhouse. Sadie had a senior thesis project due in a few weeks and she was still trying to put together her presentation. He glanced in Sadie's direction every once in a while, admiring the way she had twisted her hair up in a bun as well as the freckles that had appeared on her face after her time in the sun yesterday.

Finally, Raph had to resort to lightly knocking Don's hand with the socket he was trying to hand him while he smiled knowingly at him. He didn't really mind Donnie staring at the human girl, especially since this one seemed to reciprocate his feelings, but the sooner they were finished here, the sooner he could go find Leo again. In return, Donnie smiled sheepishly at him, took the socket and got back to work.

It wasn't particularly loud work but their eventual laughter was enough to wake Casey up and he trudged down from the barn loft, glaring squinty eyes at his mutant friends.

"What were you doing up there, Casey?" Donnie asked.

"I was sleeping," Casey said. He eyed Raphael in a way that made Raph slightly uncomfortable before heading out of the barn and towards the house.

"You want to tell me what's going on with you two?" Donnie asked.

Raph shrugged, feeling uneasy that Donnie had noticed anything strange.

"You haven't been out 'busting heads' for months, maybe longer – hey, you haven't been hanging out with Casey since you and Leo reconciled. I know Leo never liked it when you two were out patrolling without the rest of the team, but he wouldn't forbid you from running around with Casey, would he?"

"No!" Raph said, immediately insulted for both Leo and himself.

Donnie raised his hands in the air. "Okay, okay," he said, hoping to diffuse the sudden anger radiating off his brother. "Its peculiar timing is all. So then either you've decided not to spend time with him in favor of more time with Leo. Or maybe Casey didn't agree with the relationship and has distanced himself from you."

"You realize I'm standing right here while yer thinkin out loud, right?"

"Well I already asked you and you didn't respond, did you?"

Raph scowled at him again. "There's nothing strange goin on."

"Fine, don't tell me," Donnie said. He lowered the hood over the engine. "That should do it. Thanks for your help," he said over his shoulder as he moved to sit next to Sadie. She turned her laptop to him and immediately started asking his opinion on some graph she had pulled up.

Raph quickly exited the barn and found Leo sitting on the front porch with their father. They were both looking serious and as he closed in on them, Raph wondered if he should change course and let them have their discussion.

But Leo caught his eye and his face quickly shifted to a smile. He leaned into their father and murmured something before getting up and joining Raphael. He grabbed Raph's hand and pulled him as he took off in a sprint, letting go only to make running easier. They headed into the woods and only when they were out of sight of the farmhouse did Leo stop running.

Raph stood back and watched the smile fall from Leo's face as he began to stare off into the woods. Lines formed around his mouth and his brow furrowed.

Finally, Leo opened his mouth to speak, only to quickly shut it again. Raph stepped forward then and placed a hand on Leo's shoulder while tilting his head to the side in question. Leo glanced to his face before looking back to the trees.

"Master Splinter wants me to take over all of our training," he finally said, quietly. "I think that's why he wanted this time away. He wanted to talk about it someplace other than our home."

"That's what you were expectin to happen. He's been trainin you for this."

"At some point, yes," Leo said. "But I don't know if -," he paused.

"You better not be doubtin yerself," Raph said, squeezing Leo's shoulder hard. He tilted his head and eyed Leonardo.

"So you - you think it's a good decision?"

Raph flashed back to when they were 15 and Leo had asked him the same question after Master Splinter had decided to begin training Leo to be their leader in the first place. At the time, Raph had been an ass to Leo and he saw now a chance for redemption.

"Of course it's a good decision, Leo," he let go of Leo's shoulder so that he could square himself in front of him. "Master Splinter is not topside with us when we fight. He's taught us how to fight but yer brain somehow sees all four us as a team during a fight."

That finally got Leo's blue eyes on Raphael's face instead of the trees. Raph smiled. "Do you remember that night we first ran into the Mighty Mutanimals – before they showed up – we were being cornered by Kraang droids and we threw that piece of plywood up in the air for Don to use for cover so he could take down the first row of em – then you signaled Mike out with his chains to take down the flyin droid and he used their own droid to knock down the next row of em." He grinned as he recalled the fight and watched Leo nod. "When I'm fightin, I tend to keep you in my sights, but I don't think about the next ten moves the way you do. You somehow watch all of us at the same time. You see the whole fight from beginning to end, includin what all four of should be doin. You know how we react in an actual fight. It's not always the way we would react in the safety of the dojo. It's probably past time that you took over the trainin."

Leo listened to Raph's words and stood up a little straighter. "I didn't know you saw me that way."

Raph reached forward and gripped the back of Leo's neck. "That's my mistake." He watched Leo take a deep breath, but then frowned as he watched Leo's eyes narrow at him.

"I meant it last night when I said I need you to pull me out of my own head. Don't you dare ever think that you don't do enough for me, Raphael," Leo said to him.

Raph smiled at him and then pulled him a little closer so he could kiss him. "I think we've got some time before lunch," Raph said. "So you won't mind if I sneak in some extra attention from our clan leader, will you?"

"You know how I feel about favoritism," Leo said, doing his best to keep a stern look on his face.

Raph nodded. "You frown upon it in battle," he said, his smile growing, "but not when you have me alone in the woods."

Leo went to say something else but it was swallowed up as Raph covered Leo's mouth with his own.

*********************************************************************************************************************************  
Leo's stomach was full from lunch and he lay sleepily in the grass by the pond on his plastron and watched Raphael strum on his guitar next to him.

"Raphie?" he murmured.

Raph hummed in response.

"I'm going to take a nap," he said, his voice trailed off at the end.

"I got it, Leo," Raph said, smiling as he watched Leo fall asleep in the sun. Leo's request was unspoken but Raphael heard it. Leo rarely let himself relax enough to fall asleep out in the open like this, especially with his family scattered about. Being at the farmhouse wasn't exactly equivalent to them all parading around the middle of Central Park in broad daylight, but Leo didn't tend to see it that way. Still, Raph felt a warmth in his chest knowing Leo would let himself nap because he trusted Raphael to keep an eye on things.

He strummed the guitar again, looked around to make sure they were truly alone and then began to softly sing.

"Cause honey your soul could never grow old, it's evergreen  
And, baby, your smile's forever in my mind and memory  
I'm thinking 'bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways  
Maybe it's all part of a plan  
Well, I'll just keep on making the same mistakes  
Hoping that you'll understand  
That, baby, now  
Take me into your loving arms  
Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars  
Place your head on my beating heart  
Thinking out loud  
Maybe we found love right where we are"*

**************************************************************************************************************************************  
"Why are we going home tonight instead of tomorrow?" Raph asked, fully aware that he sounded like he was whining.

"Because Woody got called into work first thing in the morning so we're all heading back in solidarity," Donnie said.

"Woody feels terrible. He and Mike are making his special hot wings for dinner to apologize," Sadie said. She sat next to Donnie on the couch, both of them with their own laptops in their laps.

"Did you two take a break at all this weekend?" Raph asked, turning from the window to ask them. He watched them glance at each other quickly and smile. "Never mind, never mind. Please don't answer that." He rolled his eyes and headed upstairs to pack the few things that he and Leo had brought with them. He wished there was a way to bring the guitar home on the bike and maybe in the future he'd work out some kind of strap or something. Maybe Leo wouldn't mind wearing it on his shell, even. But for this trip he'd have to let it ride home in the shellraiser.

He was so deep in thought on how to make a strap for the guitar case that he didn't notice Casey at the top of the stairs until he'd already been shoved into the wall. He felt the impact through his shell and heard drywall crumbling, which told him from experience that the wall now had a shell-shaped indent.

It was too hard a shove to be playful.

His hands instinctually flew up and although Casey was much taller, he was able to twist Casey by the shoulder in order to spin him around and away from him. Casey ducked out of the grip and spun back around towards Raph again.

"What the hell, Casey!" Raph growled, shoving a hand against the skinny man's chest.

"What are you two doing?!" April said, coming out of her room with her suitcase. She stared hard at both of them and then gasped. "You've damaged the wall!"

Raph stared hard at Casey who stood panting, staring hard back at Raphael.

Finally, Casey broke the staring contest to look towards April. Raphael turned and headed back down the stairs as he heard Casey tell April that he'd patch the wall. He rounded the corner and headed into the kitchen where he found Leo laughing at the kitchen table while Woody and Mikey were finishing up the their dinner.

Leo stopped laughing immediately when he saw Raph and raised an eye ridge to silently ask if Raph was okay.

Raph paused. Part of him wanted to tell Leo what had just happened. But he wasn't really sure himself what had just happened. He decided not to burden him. So instead he said, "I'm starving."

He watched Leo eye him before he seemed to accept what Raph had said, giving Raph more time to try to figure out what was going on with Casey.

"Start calling in the troops," Mike said to Raph. "Wings are ready."

*************************************************************************************************************************************  
Raph shifted on the bike and turned to look at Leo behind him. They were waiting for the last of the things to be loaded into the shellraiser before heading home. Leo's visor was up and Raph stared as Leo sat licking his lips.

"My lips are still burning," Leo said absently, semi-aware of Raph staring at him. "I'm probably going to taste like those chicken wings for the next few days."

"Are you tryin to get yerself nailed on this bike?" Raph finally said, feeling himself get aroused just watching Leo tongue over his lips repeatedly.

Leo looked up at him with a smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *"Thinking Out Loud" by Ed Sheeran


	4. Chapter 4

"They have spaghetti listed in here twice," Leo said, looking through a menu from the pizza place where Woody worked.

Mike came around the kitchen table and looked over his shoulder. "No they don't."

"It says spaghetti and then baked spaghetti. They don't feed people uncooked, crunchy noodles, right?" Leo made a face.

"No, dude. Baked spaghetti is a different kind of spaghetti."

"Different how?" Leo asked.

"It's baked."

"..."

"..."

"I'm going to see if Raph wants to go with us," Leo finally said, rising from the table and leaving Mikey and the frustrating menu behind.

He headed into their bedroom and almost tripped over all his books which were now haphazardly spread out across the floor.

"Raph?" Leo asked, eyeing his mate who was sitting up on the bed with his shell pressed back against the wall.

"Spider," Raph muttered, eyes scanning the floor.

"Raph you destroyed my bookshelf!" Leo said.

"Big spider."

"Jeezus, Raph, did you honestly go after this thing with your sais?"

Raph shrugged.

"Did you at least get him?"

"Little fucker got away."

Leo moved around his books and climbed on the bed next to Raphael, taking his hands and scanning them for splinters, just in case Raph had also tried to use his fists. "You're a skilled ninja, Hamato Raphael. I can't believe you killed the bookshelf and not a tiny insect."

Raph dragged his eyes from the floor and glared at Leo's amused face.

"Call me in next time, will you?" Leo asked. "Do we need to have another discussion about the importance of calling in back-up during a dangerous situation?"

"Leo," Raph growled at him.

"Are you going to replace the bookshelf?"

"I'll build you a new one," Raph said.

"You'll build me a new one?"

"I'll ask Don to build you a new one."

Leo sighed. "Mikey and I are heading out to meet up with Woody. He's got some food that was paid for and never picked up so we're going to bring it back. Want to come with us?"

Raph hesitated. He'd rather go with Leo but he knew he needed to confront Casey and he'd rather do it alone. "Nah, I'm going to meet up with Casey."

Leo nodded. "And if you get into a dangerous situation you will call for back-up?" Leo asked, a big grin on his face. It earned him a light punch to the shoulder.

"Um, Leo? Can we not tell the others about this?"

"How do we explain the bookshelf?"

"We can tell them you tripped?"

"I tripped?" Leo asked, dryly. "There's fractured wood pieces all over the floor."

Raph looked at the floor and then pleadingly back to Leo.

"Fine," Leo said. "I tripped. But you know no one is going to believe that. And you're cleaning this up before you go out."

* * *

"Knock knock."

Don lifted his eyes from his computer screen and smiled, "Hey, April."

"You busy? I just stopped by to say hi. I saw Mikey and Leo on their way out and Raph said something about going to see Casey as soon as he was finished throwing away what looked like broken furniture. Looks like you're the only turtle in tonight."

"I wish I could go out," Donnie said, looking back to the computer screen.

"Working on a big project?" she asked, moving around the table to see what was on the screen.

"Not me, its Sadie," Don said, gesturing to the screen. "Its senior thesis presentation night for her engineering program and family and friends are allowed to go and sit in the audience. I get to sit here and watch on my computer."

"I'm sorry, Donnie," she said. "But they have a live recording for people who can't make it?"

"No," Donnie said, chewing on the end of his thumb. "They record the event to keep record of it. I may have tapped into the feed."

April grinned at him. "Well, I'm sure Sadie knows you're watching."

Donnie nodded absently. "Oh, oh, here she is!" he said, sitting up straighter while tapping the stool next to him.

April sat in the offered seat and turned to the screen. They watched Sadie stand up at the podium while her PowerPoint presentation began on a large screen behind her. They sat in silence for a while listening to Sadie explain the gadget she had created.

"Wait a minute," April said, "what did she make?"

Donnie grinned. "Well, I wanted her to present the radiation de-exposure tool I used on Leo last year. She did help me come up with the idea in the first place. But she didn't want to take credit for my design. So instead she created a motion detector system which can not only send you an alert when someone is near but will also tell you which direction they're coming from and exactly how far away they are." Donnie's eyes were wide and his hands flew through the air as he talked. "And, that wiring we got out of those guns from Stockman not only prevents other radar weapons from detecting the user of her tool, but also prevents any de-scrambling technology that would try to hide someone else in plain sight."

"That's amazing," April said. "That would be helpful for the military. The police. You guys." She paused. "That's it, isn't it? She made it for you guys?"

Donnie tried to hide his smile, but he was pretty sure Sadie did have them in mind when she was coming up with a project idea.

"And it's pretty cool that she didn't want to take credit for your design," April said.

"Yeah but it still left me without a good way to get it out to the world. But Sadie said she could help with that. So last summer she signed me up for an online GED test and then she took the scores and secretly enrolled me in an online college program last fall."

"What? You've been taking college courses this whole year?"

"Yup, and I'm on an accelerated program." He rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "I should have my college degree by next spring and then I can look into online graduate programs. It'll take a little time but in the end I should be able to get this tool to the surface."

"That's amazing, Donnie. Good for you." She paused again. "Sounds like you have a pretty great girl there."

Donnie slid his eyes over to April's face and nodded slowly. "For now, I guess. She could always leave later."

"Not everyone does that, Donnie," April said. She felt like she should say more, but her thoughts were interrupted by another knock on the lab doorway.

* * *

It had taken Raph longer than it should've to clean up all the wood pieces in their bedroom, mainly because he knew the spider was still on the loose. He ended up dropping the debris more than once when he thought he saw something moving among it.

He'd sent Casey a text telling him to meet him on his rooftop and was happy the stubborn human was already standing there when he arrived.

Raph stopped several feet away and crossed his arms.

"Yer alone," Casey said. "I didn't think Leo let you out alone anymore."

"No," Raph said. "We're not gonna talk about Leo. We're gonna talk about you."

"So yer ready to focus yer attention on me, then?"

"What kind of attention are you after here, Casey?" Raph asked. He watched for a moment as Casey's expression faltered. He rubbed a hand against his upper arm and looked towards the ground.

Casey glanced back up to find Raph still glaring at him. "I -," he started and stopped.

Raph waited and watched Casey fidget. His attention was taken away from Casey when his T-phone started buzzing on his belt. He pulled it out and saw that it was Don calling. When he answered, Donatello immediately asked where he was.

"Casey's rooftop," Raph said, tensing as he heard Don's tone of voice.

"Woody's here. Leo and Mike never met up him and they didn't answer their T-phones."

"Well then where the hell are Leo and Mike, Don?" Raph asked, practically growling into the phone.

"I'm tracking them now," Don paused. "It looks like they're a few blocks from Casey's place. The signals aren't moving."

Raph took off in a run as Don read him an address, vaguely aware that Casey was following him.

Awkwardness or not, if the turtles were in trouble, then Casey was tagging along to help.

When Raph finally stopped running, they peered over the edge of the rooftop and saw flashing police lights sitting outside a jewelry store.

"That's a good sign that they were here," Casey murmured, scanning the street below.

Raph moved to the side of the building and scanned the darkened alley across the street from the jewelry store until he finally saw what he was looking for. "Leo," he whispered. He moved to the fire escape and scaled down quickly.

Leo had pulled Mikey back behind a dumpster and was tying his blue mask tightly around Michelangelo's arm. He didn't even glance up when he sensed Raph and Casey come up behind him.

"I need more gauze," he said, quickly. "He already bled through what I had in my belt."

Raph dropped to the ground next to Leo as he pulled more gauze out of his own belt. He nudged an exhausted-looking Leo to the side a little so he could take over. Casey stood behind them, watching the street-end of the alley to make sure no one came near them.

"How long's he been knocked out?" Raph asked. He pulled the soaked blue mask away and swore. "He got grazed by a bullet!?" He looked over to Leo and noticed that Leo looked a little pale and his breathing was getting heavy. "Tell me right now that you haven't been hit by a bullet," Raph growled at him.

Leo shook his head at Raph. "I haven't."

"You lectured me not me even two hours ago about calling in back-up. Why didn't you call?" He pressed the gauze to Mike's arm and then tightly re-tied Leo's mask around the arm.

"I pushed the emergency button on my T-phone almost an hour ago," Leo rasped out. "As soon as we ran into the robbers. What took you so long to get here?"

"We need to get out of this alley," Casey said, "Lets get Mike over to April's. It's closer than the lair and that arm needs attention now." He watched as the bandages that Raph had just tied to Mike's arm quickly turned red. "I'm already textin Don to meet us there with his medical shit."

Raph used Mike's good arm to swing him up onto the back of his shell, being sure to be careful of his injured arm. He watched Leo stand and then almost dropped Mike in an attempt to catch Leo as he faltered and fell back to the ground.

Instead, Casey pulled Raph's shoulder back and quickly crouched down in front of Leo.

"No bullet wound but that's an impressive slice across the top of your leg," Casey said. "And we're out of bandages. Come on," he lifted Leo's arm and dragged it across his shoulders to help the injured leader up. He heard Raph huff behind him and quickly said, "You can't carry both of em and I can't carry dead-weight Mikey. I've got him."

"Let's just get to April's," Raph growled out, adjusting Mike on his shell.

Raphael was thankful it was dark out and the streets to April's apartment weren't covered in bright lights. Even though they could've eventually made it to the rooftops with Leo and Mike in tow, there was no way Leo would be able to jump from one to the next, so they were stuck staying on the ground level, moving from shadow to shadow. It was slow going and the only benefit was that when they reached April's place, the shellraiser was already parked outside.

Leo insisted Don focus on Mikey first, which he did with assistance from a frantic Woody. April quickly began cleaning Leo's leg with Raph's help.

Leo winced a little as April began sewing up his leg. Raph watched his eyes droop and then his upper body slump over. Raph leaned forward and quickly checked his pulse and breathing and determined that he had just fallen asleep.

"He's so pale," Woody said, looking over Mikey. "Why isn't he awake?"

"He'll be fine, Woody," Don said, absently, stitching up his little brother's arm.

"I never should've called him out to meet up with me," Woody said, leaving his post of handing things to Donatello to move closer to Mike's side.

"This is the kind of thing that can happen any time," Don said. "You can't blame yourself."

"You guys act like this is no big deal," Woody said in a low voice as he stroked a hand over Mikey's cheek.

Donnie took his eyes from Mikey's arm for a moment to glance at Woody, before he turned his attention back to finishing the stitches.

"We've been doing this for years," Donnie said. "And the guys who thought they were going to rob that store tonight are all going to jail."

"At what cost?" Woody asked, glancing over at the sleeping Leo and then back to Mike. "Anything lost in the store could be replaced. You guys - Mikey –," his voice trailed off.

Donnie placed a bandage over the stitches and then arranged a sling around his little brother's arm to keep it still. He stood and squeezed Woody's shoulder. Woody and Sadie were the first humans to enter their lives where they really had to explain why they did what they did. He wasn't sure either of them really understood it.

Once April had bandaged Leo's leg, Raph sat on the ground and pulled Leo into his side and adjusted his head onto his shoulder. Now that both Leo and Mike had been tended to, he was able to sit and let the guilt sink in. He glared at Casey who had gone into the kitchen and was talking in a hushed voice with April. Raph realized he should've gone out with Leo instead of trying to talk some sense into that moron.

"Should we move them home or stay here?" Donnie asked him.

"Yer call, doc," Raph said.

"Lets move them to the shellraiser and go home then," Don said. "Who knows what bacteria was on Mikey's bullet or whatever sliced Leo's leg. I want to get them home and get a shot of antibiotics into them."

Raph nodded and lifted Leo as he stood. "And not to add to your to-do list, Don, but Leo said he hit the emergency button on his T-phone when the fight started."

"And neither of us got an alert," Donnie said, groaning. He'd programmed the emergency button to send an alert to everyone's T-phones and not just his. "I'll look into it later tonight."

Donnie picked up Mikey while Raphael thanked April before shooting Casey a hard glare. Then they headed out with Woody leading the way as a lookout.


	5. Chapter 5

Donnie took Leo's T-phone into his lab. Both his injured brothers were resting in their own beds, which was another reason he'd wanted to bring them home rather than stay at April's place, since he knew they'd rest better here. He'd given them both a shot of antibiotics, as well as a shot of pain medicine. He'd told their caretakers, Woody and Raph, to come get him if they started to feel feverish.

He plugged Leo's T-phone into his computer and pressed the emergency button. He read through the algorithm he'd written and actually swore when he found an error. Instead of sending alerts to the other T-phones, only one alert was sent directly to his laptop. He glanced over at his laptop, which sat closed and turned off on the counter top.  
He tried to call Sadie. He'd been able to watch her presentation, but Woody had arrived before the university board could ask her questions and he wanted to see how it went.

Her phone went right to voicemail. He left a quick message for her to call him.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. He'd need to apologize to Leo and Mike. They'd been waiting for back-up during a fight in vain due to his error. But his apology would have to wait till they woke up. The best he could do for them right now was to check on them throughout the night. He made a few trips into both rooms. Woody was always happy to see him and would wait anxiously while he checked Mike's pulse and temperature until Don would nod and leave to check on Leo. Raphael was less happy to see him and he got a few growls from Raph for waking him, although he did allow Don to examine Leonardo each time.

Don was tired by morning but pleased that neither brother seemed to be developing a fever so far. He tried to call Sadie again and still got sent directly to her voicemail. He poked his head into Mike's room and quietly asked Woody if he'd heard from his sister. Woody pulled his cell phone out and checked it before shaking his head.

Since both patients were being closely watched, Donatello left the lair and headed to Woody and Sadie's apartment. He jimmied the fire escape window and quietly entered the dark apartment. He froze when he noticed the door to the apartment was wide open. Some of the furniture was shifted from where it should be. He raced to her bedroom but Sadie was nowhere in sight. Her clothes had been tossed out of the drawers and her bookshelf knocked over. He ran to Woody's room and found the same thing. The bathroom and kitchen were both a mess. But there was no sign of Sadie.

He stood completely frozen and tried to force himself to breathe. He was exhausted from the night before and suddenly his brain didn't seem to work at all. He looked slowly around Sadie's room again and felt his adrenaline kicking in. He did another quick search of the apartment and after he determined her cell phone was not there, he raced home.

* * *

Leo woke up slowly. He felt groggy and there was a stinging pain in his leg. He huffed in a breath and was grateful when he breathed in Raphael's scent. He pushed his nose further into Raph's neck and relaxed. He stayed there for a few more moments until he remembered what had happened the night before and jerked himself upright, startling Raph awake in the process.

"What?" Raph said, his eyes popping open.

"Michelangelo," Leo said. "How is he? Where is he? How did we get home?"

"We need to work on yer waking up skills," Raph said, trying to pull Leo back down into his side.

"Raph," Leo said, sternly, pulling his arm away from Raphael.

"Leo, he's fine. We brought yer sleeping butts home and Don has been checking on both of ya all night." He gripped Leo's arm again and Leo let him pull him back down. "How's yer leg feel?"

"Its fine," Leo said and got a nudge from Raph. "I don't even notice it," Leo answered back. He wanted to get up and check on Mikey but Raph was so warm. He could already feel his eyes closing again. He nudged his face back into Raph's neck and felt Raph's arms tighten around him before he began to fall back to sleep.

He and Raph both jerked upright seconds later, though, as his door was flung open and Donnie rushed inside. He was talking too fast for either of them to understand him and then he was gone from sight.

"You and yer damn leg stay right here," Raph growled at Leo as he climbed over him and rushed after Donnie.

Leo snorted and slid his legs over the side of the bed. He slowly stood and while the shooting, stinging pain in his leg was pretty awful, he could still walk just fine on it. He walked slowly out of his room and headed towards the lab. He had to stop at the top of the stairs to wait through a particularly bad stab of pain. He stood listening and began to make out more of what Donnie had been trying to tell them. Sadie was missing. Her apartment had been broken into. Leo changed direction.

* * *

"I couldn't find her cell phone in the apartment. Every time I call I get her voicemail."

"So it's turned off right now, Don," Raph said, watching Don work frantically at his computer.

"Right. I'm tracking it to the last place it was turned on. We'll start there." He clicked a few more keys and frowned. "It's her university. She said she'd have it turned off during the presentation. Maybe she never turned it back on."

"Maybe she never made it home last night either," Raph said, thinking about Don's description of her apartment. "Someone was lookin for something in her apartment. Was there anyone at her school that was givin her trouble?"

"Wait!" Donnie said, perking up, "Her phone's signal. It's back on!" He noted the new location and scrambled out of his chair.

"I'll tell Leo we're leaving," Raph said as they headed out of the lab, only to find Leo, Mike and Woody standing by the garage door entrance. "Yer not comin," Raph said.

"We're not staying while Sadie is in danger," Mikey said. And Raph had to give the kid credit. He still looked pale but he was standing solid with the hand of his uninjured arm on Woody's shoulder. Woody actually looked worse off than the injured Michelangelo.

"We don't have time to argue," Donnie said, pushing past them to head into the garage. "If you're in the shellraiser before I drive away you can come."

Mikey and Woody moved quickly and climbed into the vehicle. Leo's movements were slower and more calculated and Raph glared at the back of his stubborn head as they both climbed in as well.

They drove to the north side of town and parked a block away from the address Don had. They quickly scaled the closest building and began moving across the rooftops. Donnie led while Mikey, down an arm as it was, was moving slower to help the inexperienced Woody. And Leo, who was usually the fastest of them, was moving considerably slower, his breath coming out in ragged huffs as he tried to ignore Raphael's glare as Raph kept pace with him.

When they finally reached the building across from where Donnie hoped they'd find Sadie, Leo called out to Donnie to stop. Don's muscles tensed as he desperately wanted to make the last jump to the next building, but all his training forced him to stop and listen to that tone of voice.

"Don't you think it's a little suspicious that her cell phone suddenly turned back on?" Leo said, catching up to him.

Donnie glanced at Leo and then back to the building. He hadn't really thought about the implications of that in his anxiousness to get here. They could be running right into a trap. Sadie might not even be in that building.

"Let's do some recon," Leo said, his voice softer now that he knew he had Don's attention. "You and Mike scale down the fire escape and see what you can see inside that building first."

Donnie nodded and he and Mikey silently started down the closest fire escape. Leo moved to the edge and to start surveillance as well. He zeroed in on window when he saw movement and then swore.

"Sadie?" Raph asked.

"Its Hun and Stockman. Together," Leo said.

"Is that bad?" Woody asked. "Who are they? Can you see Sadie? Would they hurt her?"

Leo glanced sideways at Raphael and took in Raph's grim face. Leo hadn't really wanted Woody to come with them but when he'd gone into Mikey's room to wake him up so they could head out to save Sadie, Woody wouldn't be left behind. And Leo, being a brother himself, couldn't blame him. But Woody had no experience and they didn't have time to sit back and hold his hand through this.

Donnie and Mikey suddenly appeared next to them again and confirmed what Leo had already seen.

"We need a plan," Leo said, catching Donnie again before he could charge off. "The fact that they have Sadie and not one of us for once might work to our advantage. We can treat this just like any other crime with a victim that we come across. Donnie and Raph, you guys head over there. If we do this right, we can actually get rid of Hun and Stockman."

Leo grabbed Raph's hand and swung him around hard so that Raph's face was pressed into Leo's. "They know you're coming," Leo whispered into Raph's mouth before quickly kissing him and letting go of his hand. He watched Raph disappear over the side with Donatello.

He didn't want to stay over here and wait, but there was no way he could fight. He was ignoring the burning in his leg, but he was pretty sure he'd already torn some of the stitches. He was thankful that Mikey wasn't complaining about staying behind either. Instead, he was standing close to Woody and murmuring something Leo couldn't hear.  
He stood at the edge of the building and tensed. He'd just sent only half the team in after Hun and Stockman, something he'd never do under normal circumstances. He was beginning to feel panic in his chest. He took a step towards the fire escape but stopped when he felt Mike's hand squeeze his shoulder.

"Give them a chance," Mike said, quietly. "I'll make the phone call."

Leo nodded. He didn't relax, but he didn't step out on the fire escape either.

* * *

Expected or not, Donnie and Raph still had the element of surprise on their side. Raph was running on the adrenaline that came from knowing Leo was most likely watching. And counting on him. He knew Donnie was moving for the sole purpose of getting to Sadie. Even if they were outnumbered, that was going to have to be enough. They made eye contact with each other and nodded right before they busted open the apartment door and threw in a smoke bomb.

Sadie's eyes watered from the smoke and she began coughing, made difficult by the tape covering her mouth. She forced her eyes open, though, and stared hard into the smoke. She heard the now-familiar sound of Donatello's bō slicing through the air, followed by loud grunts of the some of the Purple Dragons who had been wandering in and out of the apartment they were keeping her in.

She tried harder to see as another smoke bomb went off. She knew these men had been waiting for the turtles and so far she hadn't gotten a glimpse of any of them. She continued to listen as she heard more grunts and thumps as more dragons went down. She could only hope that it was just the dragons going down and not any of the turtle brothers. She couldn't stand it if Donatello or any of his brothers were injured while trying to save her.

"Nice try, Hun!" She finally heard Raphael yell, followed by glass breaking and another loud thump.

Suddenly Donnie was there, right in front of her, gently pulling the tape off her mouth. "Hey baby," he whispered to her, his big brown eyes locking into hers.

"Donnie," she whispered back, letting her eyes finally fill with the tears that she had refused to shed in front of the dragons. Her hands were suddenly loose and Donnie was dragging her up into his tall, lanky frame and crushing her to him. She quickly returned his embrace and he held her tight as her shoulders shook in silent sobs.

Raphael left Donnie to take care of Sadie while he cleaned up the rest of the scene, quickly tying up Hun and Stockman as well as whatever other dragons were currently lying around the scene unconscious.

He quickly pulled out his T-phone and called Leo. He heard the relief in Leo's voice when he answered and felt a moment of relief himself.

"You've got maybe five minutes," Leo said. "I can already hear the sirens."

Raph hung up and glanced over to Don and Sadie. Sadie had stopped crying, although she appeared to have the hiccups and her eyes were pretty puffy. Donnie was examining the bruises on her arms from where she'd been grabbed and her chafed wrists from being tied up as he explained the next step of their plan with her. They were going to have to leave her here to deal with the police. If she'd be willing to testify to being kidnapped and held, there was no way Hun or Stockman or any of the other men in the room would be released from prison any time soon.

"This guy doesn't look like a normal dragon," Raph said, kicking the older, suited man in the leg after he had begun to groan.

"He's not," Sadie hiccupped out. "He's a professor at my university. He was on the board at my presentation last night."

"What?" Donnie said, eyeing the man closely.

"He recognized some of the tech as belonging to Stockman's guns, Donnie," she said. "And apparently he's good friends with Stockman. They grabbed me right after my presentation. They want the guns back. They wanted to capture you guys."

Donnie pulled her into another hug before reluctantly letting go as he heard the sirens outside the building. He leaned down so he could be closer to her face. "We're going to be right outside this room on the fire escape until they get here. You won't be alone."

Sadie nodded solemnly, looking around the room at Raphael's handiwork that had everyone tied up tight.

"They're going to take you down to the station," Donnie continued, "and after they've questioned you, they'll probably give you a ride to your apartment – after they've had a chance to look through there too. Someone ransacked it last night."

Sadie's eyes widened. "Woody?"

Donnie shook his head. "Woody was with us. He's fine." He watched her breathe out a sigh of relief and then continued. "I will be outside the police station and then I will be outside your apartment. And then I'm taking you home with me."

Sadie lunged forward and hugged her turtle to her before nudging both of them towards the fire escape. Even she could hear the officers getting close to the apartment entrance now.

"Who do I say tied everyone up?" she asked quickly as they climbed out.

"Tell em you did it," Raph said, winking at her.


	6. Chapter 6

"What are ya worryin about now?" Raph asked, dodging a kick.

He eyed Leo's leg after that kick. Leo had torn open all the stitches on their Sadie rescue mission and Raph had spent the entire time Mikey was re-stitching him stomping around and complaining loudly about Leo's stubbornness, all while Leo had sat smirking at him.

The stitches had come out a few days ago and although Leo said it didn't bother him, the scar looked red and irritated to Raphael.

"Woody's birthday celebration. Mikey planned the whole thing himself. And all he'll tell me is that it's someplace outside the sewers," Leo answered, sliding down to avoid a punch.

Raph had dragged him into the dojo twenty minutes ago to give him something to do other than force Raph to watch him pace the living room.

"That's not all Mike told us. He also said to be ready to go by midnight," Raph teased as he hooked his feet behind his distracted mate's ankles and knocked him to the mats, following him down to land on top of him. He grinned as he dragged both of Leo's wrists above his head before smirking at the look of defiance in the blue eyes of the turtle pinned beneath him.

Leo shifted himself slightly beneath Raph so that when he lifted his hip at just the right angle, his lower plastron dragged against Raph's.

Raph sucked in a breath and narrowed his eyes at Leo. "I'm supposed to have the advantage here you jerk."

"I'm pretty sure you always have the advantage over me, Raphie," Leo whispered as he lifted his hip at just the right angle again.

A churr escaped Raph's throat and he smiled as Leo nuzzled into his neck.

"Keep that up and we're not going out tonight for Woody's birthday," Raph said.

Leo laughed, "You're the one who has me pinned!"

Raph was about to answer when the dojo doors swung open.

"Mikey sent me to get you," Casey said, looking slightly uncomfortable as he eyed Raph sprawled across Leo. "We're leaving." He turned and headed back into the main room.

Raph lifted himself from Leo and pulled his mate to his feet. Leo didn't seem to notice Casey's strange behavior. But Raph did. Since the night he'd tried to confront Casey, Raph had spent all his free time trying to keep Leo off his damn leg so he wouldn't tear his stitches again. Add in the fact that Leo was a ninja master who could move about the lair silently and Raph had had his work cut out for him. He'd found Leo in random places all over the lair and hauled him back to bed more than once to rest. Well, mostly to rest. He'd used other ideas to get Leo to stay in bed as well.

With all of his Leo-sitting, he hadn't decided what to do about Casey. He was going to have to confront him again, but he really didn't want to. And Casey had stepped up that night and helped them – helped Leo – when they'd really needed it. It was like seeing his old friend again. And Casey had come over with April once to check on Leo and Mike, as well as to hear about Sadie's ordeal. Although Casey hadn't made eye contact with Raph while he was there and he didn't stay long. Raph was secretly hoping that the Casey who showed up at the party tonight was his old friend and not the new creepy guy.

Leo took in the scene in the main room when he and Raph joined the rest of the group. Woody was sitting on the couch with Sadie squeezed in between him and Donnie. Sadie looked calm, at least calmer than she had been over the past couple weeks. She'd mostly lived in the lair and if she left to go to campus, Donnie gladly escorted her there and back. It had been quite a scandal at her school to have had one of the professors arrested and charged in the kidnapping of a student, in alliance with known gang members. But Sadie was proving to be pretty strong-willed and cooperating fully with the DA's office in preparation for their trial.

Mike stood in front of the three seated on the couch, grinning while he waved his hands around in the air as he told a story. His arm still had a bandage wrapped around it, but it didn't appear to slow him down. Casey and April stood off to the side. Leo noted that they were both standing rather stiffly and compared to what he was used to seeing, they seemed to have a few extra inches of space between them.

"We're going somewhere fun and we're not going to do any complaining about the location," Mikey was saying and Raph smirked as he watched Mike send Leo a pointed glare.

"It's safe and D has already disabled the security cameras."

Now it was Leo's turn to send Donatello a pointed glare. Donnie merely shrugged at him. "We're not going to do any harm."

"So Donnie gets to know where we're going but you won't tell me?" Leo said, actually letting go of Raph's hand to cross his arms over his chest. Raph had to smirk again at the full-on leader stance.

"I needed Donnie to disable the security cameras," Mikey repeated slowly as if talking to a child.

Leo glared at Mikey, a look that even Raph had found intimidating from time to time, not that he'd ever admit it. Mikey seemed unimpressed and instead yelled "Let's move!" as he pulled Woody off the couch.

They piled into the van with Donnie driving while Casey and April rode behind on Casey's bike. Leo frowned as they parked outside of what looked like a large warehouse.  
Woody grabbed Mike's hand as they snuck into a side entrance. Mikey had even refused to tell him where they were going. And while he had seen first-hand now what it was that Mike and his brothers did on patrol, he wasn't used to sneaking into dark, creepy buildings in the middle of the night.

Although, it was hard to be too creeped out when he looked at Mike's grinning face. Where ever they were, Mike was excited - thrilled to have planned something special for Woody and to have his entire family out celebrating what Mike referred to as "one of his top 5 favorite moments in history." Woody had to laugh at that too, because he'd heard Mikey refer to way more than five historical events as his top five favorites.

They were suddenly all blinded by bright overhead lights as Mikey flipped the switch. Woody gasped as he realized where they were. It was a trampoline park – the entire floor was completely covered with trampoline material. Woody grabbed Mike's hand again, let out a whoop and jumped onto the nearest trampoline. Mikey laughed and followed along.

Raph glanced at Leo as Donnie, Sadie, Casey and April also took off onto the trampolines after Woody and Mike. He watched Leo's blue eyes scan the inside of the building. There weren't any windows and only one other door other than the one they just used. He waited patiently until Leo glanced his way and let out a small smile.

"Looks ok to you?" Raph asked.

Leo nodded, his shoulders visibly relaxed. Raph pulled him forward and laughed again as he watched Leo take a tentative step onto the trampoline floor. He knew he shouldn't laugh, none of them had ever even seen a trampoline before. But the look of concentration on Leo's face was too good. He took an easy step out as well while watching the others easily jump and laugh over the bouncy flooring.

Leo watched the others as well before shifting his weight down and back up. A bright grin lit his face as he let go of Raph's hand, jumped forward and immediately flew into a front flip before landing on the next trampoline square and spinning around to grin at Raph. He bounced forward and landed in front of Raphael.

"You would get the hang of this in the first ten seconds," Raph said, landing his hands on top of Leo's shoulders as they both bounced from Leo's landing.

Leo leaned in close. "The give on this floor is pretty amazing," he said. "It's giving me some ideas."

"You say the word and I will personally walk into a store and buy you a trampoline," Raph said, tightening his grip on Leo's shoulders as he watched the blue eyes darken with lust. Leo leaned forward and kissed him, immediately twisting his tongue around Raph's. Raph broke the kiss when he felt a churr rise in his throat. "But until then, do you think you can behave yerself through this family birthday party?" he growled at Leo.

Leo laughed and pulled himself out of Raph's grasp in order to turn and jump away.

* * *

Woody jumped over to Mike who was sitting uncharacteristically still in the middle of one of the trampolines. He jumped forward and knocked Mike backwards onto his shell so he could sit on top of him.

"You're not having any fun in one of the top five best places on earth," Woody said, teasing him.

Mikey smiled an easy smile up at his blonde human. "So you like this place?"

"It's the best, Mikester. Just like you." Woody watched Mikey's smile falter and began to feel nervous. "Want to tell me what you're thinking?"

Mikey licked his lips and Woody watched him rub his fingers over the bandage on his other arm, something that Woody had noticed him doing quite often lately even though Mikey had told him the arm wasn't bothering him.

"I just, um, I want to make you happy," Mike said, struggling to get the words out.

"I've told you how happy you make me you silly turtle," Woody said.

Mikey nodded. That was true. But Mikey remembered the guilt he'd felt after waking up from the bullet wound when he saw how worried Woody had been. And then, less than 24 hours later, they were off on a rescue mission to save Woody's own sister. Talk about a rough initiation into patrol life.

"I'd just – I'd understand if this was too much," Mikey said. "If what's included in my package deal was too much to handle. If you wanted out,"

"I like your package," Woody said, raising a blond eyebrow at Michelangelo.

Mikey snorted. "I'm actually being serious for once!"

"I don't want out, Michelangelo," Woody said, suddenly serious. "I've actually been a little worried that you might want me to leave," he admitted. "That you'd think this was too dangerous for me to stick around."

"You probably should leave," Mikey said, running his thumbs across Woody's thighs, "but I'll never ask you to go. I'm too selfish for that. I want to keep you."

Woody leaned down so his face was right above Mike's. "Good. Be selfish. Because I don't want to go anywhere either." He watched a genuine smile cross Mikey's features and leaned down to kiss him.

* * *

Leo was sitting at one of the concession tables when April sat down next to him and sighed. They may have seen less of her lately as her college classes took more of her attention, but he still recognized the redhead's request to talk. He turned his attention away from the game of tag Mikey and only Mikey seemed to be involved in and asked if there was something she wanted to discuss.

"Has Raph mentioned anything to you about Casey?" she asked.

Leo shook his head. Her question had him searching the two out and he found them playing basketball with Donnie and Sadie. The trampoline floor made it look impossibly hard to judge how far to jump to make a basket and he almost laughed when Sadie purposely jumped and landed within inches of Casey's feet, knocking him off balance so that the shot he was trying to make flew in the opposite direction. He could almost hear the joke Donnie made about physics from his seat across the room.

Raph caught Leo's eye and jerked his head in the direction of the net with a big grin on his face. Leo smiled and then shifted his head slightly in April's direction. Raph glanced at April and nodded slightly.

"Is something going on with Casey, April?" Leo asked.

"He wouldn't tell me if there was," April muttered.

Leo's eyes left the basketball game and narrowed in on April.

She could feel Leo looking at her but didn't meet his eyes. "I bet Donnie calls Sadie all the time," she said, wistfully.

Leo eyed her. "They do seem pretty happy together," he said, warily.

April huffed out a laugh. "I'm not going to cause them trouble, Leo. I made my choice with Casey and at the time it seemed like the only choice I could make. I mean, my life has never been normal, right? Kraang DNA, mutant friends, my father turned into a bat. I needed some normal and Casey looked pretty normal." She paused. "I know I shouldn't be complaining to you about wanting a normal life."

Leo offered his own small laugh. "Our life is normal to us, April. But you didn't grow up with us. I can see how it wouldn't be normal to you."

She smiled gratefully at him. "So I chose normal. But now the only time I see Casey is when I show up unannounced at his hockey practice. Or when we show up at these events you guys plan. He doesn't call me back. He never comes over. I don't even know why I still think of him as my boyfriend."

Leo considered this. He and his brothers weren't really privy to their human friends' day to day lives on the surface so it was easy to assume that Casey and April were doing well together as a couple out of their sights.

"Have you talked to him about any of this?" he asked. "Casey has always been crazy about you, April."

April shook her head. "He's not really talking to me. Besides, I have a feeling his attention has shifted to someone else." She lifted her head and looked towards the basketball game.

Leo frowned, confused by the thought of Casey being interested in someone else. He watched as the game fell apart in a free for all after Donnie dragged Sadie down in a tickling mess. Casey, meanwhile, charged Raph and knocked Leo's mate down on his shell before jumping up on Raph's plastron. Casey managed to use his legs to pin Raph's arms down at his sides.

Leo's frown grew as he watched Raph freeze with a surprised expression. This wasn't normal wrestling between the two, otherwise Raph wouldn't still be pinned under his lightweight human friend. Casey leaned down towards Raph's face and Leo heard a small growl escape his own throat as he watched. Even from the distance, he was still able to read Casey's lips: _Come over after this_.

Raph snapped out of his frozen, shocked state. He quickly freed his hands and flipped Casey off. He spun around and glared at his friend before jumping to his feet and heading in Leo's direction.

"What's going on, April?" Leo asked in a tight voice as he watched Raph's hunched shoulders as he approached them.

"I don't know, Leo," she said honestly. Standing, she said, "If Casey even asks, tell him I went home."

Raphael sunk down in a chair next to Leo and asked if Leo had seen Mikey before Leo could ask him anything. The distraction worked because Leo began searching the room and didn't see their little brother anywhere. He stood up and was about to begin a full on search when the bright ceiling lights went out and were replaced by flashing neon strobe lights instead. He heard Mikey's cheer right before he suddenly appeared in the concession area with a cake which he placed on the table in front of Leo and Raph. Sadie and Donnie appeared next with Woody between them. They began singing 'Happy Birthday' as Mikey lit the candles he'd placed on the cake.

Despite himself, Leo looked around for Casey and didn't see him anywhere. He hoped that Casey had seen April leave and had gone after her.

When they were finished with the cake and everyone bounced back out on the trampolines, Leo thought about asking Raph about Casey when it was clear that Raph wasn't going to bring it up. But the thought was lost when Raph pushed him into a dark corner, too far back for the strobe lights to reach, and began twisting his tongue around Leo's again.


	7. Chapter 7

Casey paced back and forth in his room. His head hurt and his nose probably needed to be cleaned but there was no way he was leaving his room to go to the bathroom sink.  
His heart leapt when he heard his bedroom window slide up and he spun around with a goofy grin on his face.

A goofy grin that was shut down immediately when he was faced with a blue-clad turtle instead of the red-one he was expecting.

Leo stood inside Casey's window and looked him up and down. He had left his warm bed which contained his warm Raphael and snuck out of the lair. Casey wasn't just messing with Raphael, he was messing with April as well, and Leo had decided that he and his brothers had been friends with the human long enough to ask him about it directly instead of waiting for the situation to implode and hurt someone.

Leo was there to confront Casey but his mouth stayed shut as he took in Casey's new black eye and bloody nose. His eyes darted to Casey's bedroom door as he heard Casey's father's slurred speech as he beat on the door before he re-focused on Casey's face. Casey wasn't making eye contact and flinched when the door shook under the force of his father's fists.

Finally, he lifted his eyes to guiltily meet Leo's.

"Get your shit," Leo said, lifting the bedroom window open again and stepping back onto the fire escape. He left the window open and waited a few minutes until Casey climbed out carrying his hockey bag. They silently climbed down and headed to the closest manhole cover.

They were walking in the sewers when Leo finally spoke. "You going to tell me you had hockey practice at 3 am between Woody's party and now?"

Casey kept silent. It was always easy to use hockey to explain away any visible bruises.

Leo snatched Casey's hockey bag from what looked like a dislocated shoulder and glared at him when he attempted to take it back. When Casey gave up and let Leo carry it, Leo began speaking again.

"This thing with you and Raph has gone on long enough. He thinks I haven't noticed. You think I haven't noticed. But you haven't been out by yourselves in a year. And you aren't exactly subtle, either. You left a shell-shaped indent at the farm house and Raph walked around with paint and drywall stuck in his shell. You're irritating Raphael, pissing me off and hurting April."

He paused and glared at Casey as they walked. Casey kept his eyes on the ground in front of them.

Since he wasn't going to speak, Leo continued, "Apparently, Raph wanted to handle this himself because he hasn't talked to me about it. And since you were his best friend, I was keeping myself out of it. And I would've kept myself out of it if I hadn't seen you tackle and then _straddle_ my Raphael tonight," Leo growled out. He glared again at Casey, fighting to keep his balled fists to himself since it appeared that Casey was already pretty injured.

It hadn't escaped Leo's notice that Casey still hadn't said a single word to him. He stopped walking, which forced Casey to stop as well. Since becoming a member of the Hamato's team a few years ago, Casey's obedience to the leader of the team was second nature, even if stopping to listen to more of Leo's lecture was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Can we just not talk about it?" Casey finally said.

Leo stared at him.

"April ditched me at the party and I got into a fight on the way home."

Leo continued to stare at him. Casey hated Leo's piercing blue gaze. He'd seen enemies crumble under it in the past. He refused to do so now. He stared back hard at Leo.

Leo raised an eye ridge at the stubborn human. Then he smirked and began walking back to the lair in silence.

He entered the lair and was immediately encased in a hug from Raphael. He could hear Raph's fast breathing and had to wonder how long Raph had been awake and worried about him.

"You didn't take yer T-phone you ass," Raph said into his neck. He tensed when he spotted Casey trailing in after Leo and realized Leo was carrying one of Casey's hockey bags on his shoulder.

"What happened to you?" Donnie asked, walking out of his lab.

"Casey got into a fight," Leo answered. "I'm pretty sure he needs his shoulder put back in place, Don." He pulled back far enough from Raph to run a hand gently down his mate's cheek.

"A fight with you?" Raph asked.

"Why do you think we'd get into a fight?" Leo asked and watched as Raph looked nervous.

Leo hated it.

He pulled himself out of Raph's arms and stepped around him, pushing Casey into Don's lab to get some medical attention. He slung Casey's hockey bag into a corner by the cot before turning and heading upstairs to his room without a backwards glance.

Raph stood still and watched Leo go before he marched into the lab and stood next to the cot, arms crossed as he watched Don pop Casey's shoulder back into place. His friend grimaced and let out a grunt. Other than that, he remained silent as Don handed him an ice pack for his eye and cleaned the blood off his nose. Then Don excused himself from the clear tension in the room. He'd already been rudely woken up by Raph as he demanded Don track Leo's T-phone, which it turned out, was sitting in Leo and Raph's bedroom. Now that his medical expertise was no longer required, he was happily going back to bed.

Casey looked up and then back down when he caught Raph glaring at him.

"Start talking, Jones," Raph said.

Casey scowled up at him and then turned his back to Raphael. He laid down on his uninjured shoulder and pulled the blanket he found on the cot over himself.

Raph continued to glare at Casey's back before sighing dramatically and turning to head upstairs. If Casey wouldn't explain himself, then that left Raph to face Leo without any real answers. Because if Leo had snuck out and headed to Casey's place in the middle of the night, then Leo sure as hell knew something was going on.

When he entered his and Leo's shared bedroom, he found Leo sitting on the edge of the bed with one candle lit on the bedside table.

"Why would Casey want you to come over to his place tonight?" Leo asked immediately.

Raph found himself standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. "Casey's just confused," he said. "I was pretty sure he was gonna snap out of it."

"Snap out of what?" Leo asked. His voice was quiet but firm. His gaze centered on something on the floor.

Raph sat next to him. Leo had swapped into leader mode and Raph knew it was time to talk to him about Casey's advances. "Whatever has him hitting on me or attacking me at every opportunity."

"Since when?" Leo asked, determined to keep his breathing under control.

"Since I told him about us," Raph said. "It was like a switch flipped in his head and he started tellin me I should consider all my options."

"And he considers himself one of your options?" Leo asked. His chest felt tight. He and Raph had been together for a year. A whole year. And Raph hadn't mentioned this once.

"I don't know why he would," Raph said, trying to read Leo's expression. But all he could see was Leo's stony leader expression, which meant he was hiding what he was feeling. Raph felt a knot form in his stomach. Leo hiding his feelings felt worse than if Leo would just rant and lecture him.

"Has Casey ever talked to you about his relationship with his father?"

Raph sat back. He wasn't willing to let Leo drop this subject that fast. "We need to talk about this Leo."

"I think this is tied to that," Leo responded quietly.

Raph stared at him for a beat and then said, "Casey never talks about his dad. How does it have anythin to do with this?"

"Casey was waiting for you tonight, right?" Leo said, looking directly at Raph for the first time.

Raph nodded. "But I didn't go," he said pointedly.

Leo looked back at the bedroom floor. "You should've seen his disappointed face when I was the one who came through the window," he muttered.

Raph reached out and tried to rub his hand up and down Leo's arm only to have Leo flinch away from him. "Leo," he whispered.

Leo stood. "I need some air," he said, starting towards the door. He stopped and looked over his shoulder when he realized Raph was beginning to follow him. He grabbed his T-phone off his new bookshelf, hooked it into his belt and then said, "I'm going out by myself. You need to straighten this out with Casey." Then he turned and left the room, shutting the door behind him.

Raph stared at their closed bedroom door and cursed silently. He thought about knocking a few things over and storming off himself. He couldn't even remember the last time he stormed off. There'd been no need. Leo kept him grounded in a way that didn't require dramatics from him to feel like he got his point across. Leo was good for him. Leo was his other half.

How could he have let this whole mess hurt Leo?

He quickly twisted the knob on the door and sprinted down the stairs to find that Leo was already gone. He changed course and stomped his way into the lab. He switched the lights on and was gratified when Casey sprung upright, startled awake.

He saw that it was Raph descending on him and he groggily asked, "You comin in here to sleep with me?"

Raphael punched him in the face.

Casey yowled in pain as he was flung backwards, his back hitting the wall behind him. His hands flew up to his cheek and he glared at Raph.

"Start talkin Jones or I'm gonna to blacken yer other eye."

Casey pulled his legs up to his chest and continued to glare at Raph.

Raph pulled Donnie's desk chair over in front of the cot and sat down. "If I'm not gettin any sleep tonight, then neither are you."

Casey stopped rubbing his bruised cheek and let his hands drop to his sides. He felt sick to his stomach. He glanced up at Raph every few minutes. At first he was determined to wait this out. Raph would have to go to sleep at some point. But after a while he could feel himself cracking. This was his best friend Raphael sitting in front of him. If he couldn't tell Raph, then he truly couldn't tell anyone. He began to work up his nerve.

"I'm no good for April," he finally mumbled under Raph's hard stare. "I won't let her come over to the apartment and she gets mad about it. But if she saw where I live – who I live with – what he's like," Casey's voice trailed off.

Raph thought about Leo's questions about Casey's dad and started to get a bad feeling. He attempted to tone his glare down a few notches.

"I don't know how to get out of there, Raph," Casey said. "I'm 21-goddamn-years old and I'm still stuck living at home because every time I mention movin out he threatens-" Casey's voice trailed off again. He took a deep breath. "He threatens me. He threatens my little sister. He threatens April. I love April, Raph. But I need her away from all of this. I already got my sister moved out to my aunt's place. But for some reason April hasn't dumped my ass yet."

"And me?" Raph asked.

Casey glanced towards Raph with his one good eye. "I'm sorry, man. I thought – I shouldn't have tried to drag you into my crazy world. I just thought maybe you could knock some sense into the guy."

Raph stared at him. "You thought the best way to ask for help was to make passes at me in the hopes that I would eventually take care of yer dad for ya?"

"It sounds kind of dumb when you say it out loud," Casey muttered.

"I was already part of yer crazy world, Jones," Raph said, rubbing one of his hands down his face. "You've managed to hurt Leo, April, me and now yerself just because yer an idiot and didn't know how to ask for help?"

Casey rested his face down on the tops of his knees.

"Yer our brother, Casey," Raph said. "Don't you know that every one of us would do anything to help you?"

"He's right, Case."

Casey's head whipped up from his knees at the sound of April's voice. He found April taking steps into the lab towards him while Leo leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed. His steely blue eyes stared hard at Casey's face.

April sat next to Casey and took one of his hands. He smiled a grateful smile at her at she traced over his black eye with her other hand. Then he leaned around her to look at Leo again.

"I'm really sorry, Leo," Casey said. "I didn't think about how I would be hurtin anyone else. I was just gettin kind of desperate."

"You are an idiot," Leo said without venom in his voice. "But you're our idiot. You're staying here until we figure something else out. The bed in the spare bedroom is more comfortable than that cot."

Casey answered him with a nod before he ducked his head back behind April.

Leo glanced at Raphael, who had sat eyeing him silently the whole time, and then headed back upstairs again.

"You want me to carry yer bag up?" Raphael asked.

"I got it," April said, rising from the cot. "You should go talk to Leo. He didn't say much after he picked me up. He seems pretty upset."

"I'm really sorry, Raph," Casey said.

Raph nodded, happy to see signs of his old friend returning. "I appreciate you apologizin to Leo." He nodded to them both and headed up the stairs to his and Leo's room.

Only it was completely empty when he got there.

Raph wouldn't have heard his silent mate move around the lair even if he had wanted to, but Raph had been pretty sure that Leo was heading upstairs when he left the lab. He turned and quickly headed down the hall to the bathroom and found it empty as well. He walked back into his and Leo's room and found Leo's T-phone on top of the bookshelf again. So Leo had come upstairs. But where the hell was he?

Raph went back in the hallway as April and Casey were closing the door to the guest bedroom. Mike's and Don's bedroom doors were closed. Raph doubted Leo would head into either of their rooms at this hour since Sadie and Woody had spent the night as well. He glanced over at his old bedroom and noticed the door was open. He headed in there and was surprised to find Leo lying in the hammock with his shell to the door.

Raph approached his old bed slowly. "You managed to get in there without knocking yer shell to the ground?"

"I'm a ninja master," Leo said, his voice quiet. "I only fell out that one time and it was your fault."

Raph smiled at the memory. He had been trying a certain maneuver on Leonardo at the time and the hammock just didn't allow them the space required for such an activity.

"What are ya doin in here?"

Leo turned on his shell and stared up at Raph's old ceiling. "Before we got together, I used to lie in my bed at night and wish I could crawl into your hammock with you," Leo said. "I just wanted to be somewhere that would remind me of that. I feel like I don't know you right now. And I hate it."

"Leo, you know me better than anyone –"

"A whole year, though," Leo said, sitting up now in the hammock, swinging his legs over the side so he could face him. "A whole year, Raphael?"

Raphael cringed at the pain in Leo's eyes. At the sound of his whole name in that tone of voice.

"I thought you and Casey were just fighting this whole time. You didn't tell me when I asked you about it so I decided to stay out of it. I figured you'd ask me for advice if you needed it. I had no idea that Casey was – that you weren't telling me Casey was making advances," Leo said, harshly. He could feel his anger rising. "Casey is a jackass who didn't know how to ask for help. Fine. But you? I thought I was your best friend, Raph. More than your best friend. How could you not tell me what was going on?"

Raph dropped to the ground and sat in front of Leo. He wanted to tell Leo he'd take it all back if he could. That he'd never do something so dumb again. But that sounded petty in his head. Plus it sounded too much like the apology he'd made a year ago when he'd tumbled into Leo's bed after what had amounted to a four year absence from his best friend's life.

"I'm so sorry, Leo," he finally settled on. "What can I do?"

Leo looked down at his pitiful mate. He felt confused. He loved Raphael. More than anything. Part of him wanted to grab Raph and pull him into a fierce hug. But the other half wanted distance. His toes were creeping backwards to push the hammock back towards the wall, to put a little more space between them. How many times was he going to set himself up for disappointment from Raphael?

They sat silently for a few minutes. Leo eyed Raph and Raph eyed the floor in front of him, watching Leo's feet move away from him.

How many times was he willing to put his faith in Raph's hands? Leo didn't have to consider the question for long. He'd put faith in Raphael over and over again forever.

They were much bigger than something as insignificant as this.

"It's clearly in your nature to keep things from me if you think you're protecting me," Leo said, staring at Raphael's sad, downturned face. Raph watched Leo's feet stop moving. "And I want you to cut that shit out."

Raph's eyes shot up to Leo's face as he heard the curse and the teasing tone of voice. He sighed in relief at the look on Leo's face and Leo smiled. Raph raised himself onto his knees and moved forward so he could wrap his arms around Leo's waist.

"Aishiteru, Leo," he murmured into Leo's plastron. "I couldn't handle losing you."

"Me either," Leo replied, wrapping his arms around Raph's warm shell and resting his cheek on the top of Raph's head. "I love you, Raphael. Get in here with me."

Raph smiled and skillfully shifted the two of them side-by-side into the hammock. Their legs tangled together and he again wrapped his arms around Leo's shell. Leo began tracing the scar at the top of his plastron.

"I spent a lot of time wishing you were in here with me, too," Raph said, allowing Leo to nudge his face to the side so he could rest his face in Raph's neck. "I'm sorry I keep making mistakes and messin up. You are more than my best friend, Leonardo. I'm going to tell ya everything from now on. Yer gonna get sick of my voice."

Leo huffed out a laugh. "I'll never get sick of your voice."

Raphael listened to Leo's breathing even out and debated opening his mouth again. It seemed like Leo had forgiven him for not telling him about Casey's strange behavior. He didn't want to upset this new calm, but he had questions. And he'd rather get it all out tonight.

"Leo?" he asked quietly. Leo nudged his face into Raph's neck in response. "Do you think I'm a terrible friend for not knowing about Casey's dad?"

Leo shifted his head back so he could look at Raph's face. "Of course not, Raphie. Casey didn't want you to know, so you didn't. He's been very good about hiding all of this."

"How'd you know?"

"When I got to Casey's place earlier, his dad was yelling and trying to beat his way through the bedroom door. And when Casey heard the window opening, his face was so full of hope that you'd come. He thought help had arrived."

"Are you mad at him?"

Leo sighed and shifted, not that he could move very far. "Casey is a member of this clan. And although members of this clan don't always make the best decisions," he said, rolling his eyes. "I'm bound to protect all clan members."

Leo sighed again. It might take a while for their family to be right again. But their family was always worth it.

"Of course, all clan members are also expected to be on time for practice in the morning. And I do intend to kick both your asses in the dojo."

Raph smiled down at his mate, "Well, if that's yer intention, then let me see what I can do to tire you out tonight."

"My shell better stay in the hammock this time."


	8. Chapter 8

"You know, you don't like surprises either," Leo said, doing his best to glare at Raphael as he was led through the sewer tunnels to an unknown destination. Unknown to him that is. Raphael knew where they were going. Apparently Raphael thought he'd like to be surprised for his birthday. Leo scowled at him again.

Raph eyed the glaring turtle and grinned at him as he tugged Leo along by the hand.

"Would it make you feel better to know that Donnie knows where I'm taking you and already set everything up to be safe?"

Leo ground his heels into the tunnel floor. "Donnie knows again and I don't?!"

"You turn into our tech-savvy brother and I bet you'll be told all kinds of things," Raph said, pulling on Leo's arm to get him moving again. They had to stay on schedule or they'd be late. "Of course, then you'll also be constantly bombarded by the rest of the clan to constantly do favors for them. But its yer call." Raph smirked at him.

Leo let himself be pulled along again. He watched Raph as he read the sewer tunnel numbers, obviously looking for one in particular. Leo wondered at that. They must be going somewhere not completely familiar to Raphael. This only made Leo more nervous.

"So Donatello agreed to help you but didn't want to come along?" Leo asked.

"I didn't invite anyone else," Raph said. He glanced over at Leo. He knew he probably should've invited the others. This was Leo's birthday and maybe he'd want to celebrate with everyone. But Raph wanted the alone time with Leo. Leo taking over all of the duties involved in their training meant even more time in the dojo for Leo as he prepared for each day's practice, even more time spent studying battle strategies and even more time with sensei as they reviewed the team's progress.

Leo was often up before Raphael and Raph usually fell asleep on the couch at night waiting on Leo because he refused to go to bed without him. He did his best to help him, but this was almost entirely something Leo would have to do on his own. It wouldn't always be this way. At least, Raph didn't think so. With experience, Leo wouldn't need to do so much prep work.

But if Raph was feeling tired with their new schedule, then he figured Leo must feel exhausted. He glanced over at Leonardo again. Raph would probably never admit it out loud, but Leo was Raphael's walking, talking soft spot and he was determined to make Leo happy on this rare night out.

He finally spotted the tunnel he wanted and led the way up the ladder to the manhole cover. He slid it out of the way and helped pull Leo up after him before replacing it.

Leo looked around the dark alley they stood in, trying to place where they were. Raph grabbed his hand and pulled him to a backdoor to one of the buildings towering over them. He easily disabled the lock and pulled the two of them inside. Once they were in the dark hallway, Raph pushed Leo's shell against the wall and quickly kissed him before pulling him along after him.

"Do I smell popcorn?" Leo asked.

"Damn nose," Raph muttered. He didn't answer him beyond that though, just pulled him along until he found the theater marked IMAX. "Go pick out a seat," he said, pushing Leo's shell towards the IMAX entrance. "I'll be right back."

Leo hesitated but another push from Raph got him moving. He entered the dark theater and moved up to the middle center of the stadium seats. He stood there completely still, listening to his surroundings in the dark. It had been a few years since he'd been in a movie theater. The last time had been just the brothers, four teenagers breaking in past curfew to watch the newly released Captain America. He had loved it. He'd managed to sit next to Raph despite Raph's scowl that he'd have to share his popcorn with Leo. Leo had had to turn his head to get more popcorn and took the opportunity each time to glance at Raph's face. He had enjoyed watching Raphael enjoy the movie as much as he'd enjoyed watching a movie on the giant screen for the first time.

Of course, he'd been a lot younger then, without an inkling of exactly how much evil was in the world. Of how many enemies they'd have. Of how many people would want to harm him and his brothers. His eyes, well adjusted to the dark, scanned the room and listened for movement. Listened for breaths from anyone else who could be close by.

He heard only Raphael's heavy footsteps enter the theater and smiled as he watched him climb up to where he stood, his arms full of popcorn, candy and drinks.

"Sit," Raph said, depositing some of his goodies into one of the chairs.

"Raph, how do you know this place is-,"

"Sit," Raph said, again, sighing. He'd hoped Leo would relax when he realized where they were. Even though it was years ago, he remembered how much Leo had liked the theater the last time they'd come.

Leo remained standing, looking around the room, eyeing the multiple entrances. Raphael leaned over and removed the katana strapped to Leo's back, setting them gently in the seat next to them.

"There. Now you can sit," he said, smirking.

Leo still hesitated. Raph leaned forward and kissed him, thrusting his tongue into Leo's mouth, twisting it around Leo's. He pushed forward and forced Leo to collapse into the seat behind him. Raph rested his weight on Leo's two armrests as he towered over him.

"Yer going to make me work hard to relax you, aren't ya?"

Leo's eyes found Raph's eyes, the green always shining brightly, even in the dark. "I'm sorry, Raph," he said, "I will try to relax."

"I don't think that's good enough," Raph said, dropping to his knees in front of Leo. He churred at Leo and smirked as Leo automatically spread his legs apart, welcoming Raph between them as he answered the call with his own churr. "I want you to actually relax. Not just try," he said, the last bit said in a tone mocking Leo's voice. He began kneading his hands over Leo's thighs, smiling as he felt the muscles shift under his fingers. He could already hear the change in Leo's breathing.

Suddenly the movie projector clicked on and the room was bathed in light as the first preview lit up the screen. Leo shot a startled expression to Raph who only grinned up at him and said, "Did I mention I had Donnie rig up the movie for us beforehand? Oh and -," he reached down into his belt and pulled out some 3D glasses, "Don made us these since the regular ones wouldn't fit our heads." He reached up and placed the glasses on Leo. "Shit, Leo," he said, tilting his head as he admired Leo's face. "Those look damn good on you."

He leaned up and pressed himself against Leo's plastron to kiss him again. He reached behind Leo's head and tangled the ends of the blue bandana around his fingers before yanking the ends back and exposing Leo's neck. He felt as well as heard Leo churr again as his tongue moved down Leo's neck.

"You feelin relaxed yet?"

"Getting there," Leo huffed out.

"Still not good enough," Raph said, releasing Leo's bandana and lowering himself as he kissed and licked his way down Leo's plastron. He moved his mouth down to the tops of Leo's thighs and then bit and licked his way over them as well. Leo squirmed under the attention and Raph used his hands to grip Leo's legs to keep him still.

"I'm going to force ya to relax before the previews are over," he whispered up to Leo who managed only a moan in response.

Raphael relocated his mouth again, deciding to finally focus on Leo's slit where his tongue went to work sliding up and down the sensitive area. He listened to the content noises Leo was making and then pressed his tongue into the cartilage, earning himself a loud groan from Leo as he dropped down directly into Raphael's waiting mouth.

"Fuck, Raph," Leo moaned out and Raph took a second to grin. He must've worked Leo up pretty well to this point if Leo was already swearing.

Raph moaned himself as Leo's scent filled his nose and he felt him slide in and out of his throat.

Leo reached down with a hard grip on Raph's shoulders as he tried to keep himself from thrusting into Raph's mouth. He realized that there was something incredibly erotic in knowing that he was on full display thanks to the bright lights of the screen shining down on him while Raphael was completely enclosed in the darkness between his legs.

Raph wrapped his tongue around Leo and churred again, knowing how much Leo liked the feeling of the vibrations. Leo's answering churr was loud, possibly louder than Raph had ever heard before and if his mouth had been free to grin at the noise, he would've.

He thought about pulling away just to once again ask Leo if he was relaxed yet, but one glance up at his mate's frenzied, moaning state and he knew he'd never be able to do something so cruel. Instead, he doubled his efforts and soon felt the tell-tale tremble that told him Leo was close. Leo let out one final loud shout before his release down Raph's throat. Raphael swallowed what was sent his way, before finally pulling back and releasing Leo.

"Are ya relaxed now?" he asked, his voice teasing. He watched Leo continue to pant, his head still thrown back, resting on the back of the seat.

"Yes, Raphael. Fuck yes."

"Oh, good," Raph said, popping up to quickly kiss Leo on the nose before sitting in the seat next to him. "I got popcorn and yer favorite Junior Mints."

Leo shifted his head enough so that he could turn and look at Raph. "You're so thoughtful," he said, his voice raspy as his throat felt slightly sore from the loud moaning and churring. He reached a shaking hand out and took the box of candy from Raph's proffered hand as he continued to breathe heavy.

"That I am," Raph said, his voice still teasing. He put his own 3D glasses on and turned to the screen. "And look at that, yer all relaxed just in time for the movie to start."

Leo lifted his head from the back of his seat with some great effort and adjusted his own glasses on his face. "What are we seeing?"

"Jurassic World," Raph said, grinning at him. "And if you can stay relaxed long enough, Donnie hooked up the new Avengers movie to play right after it."

"I'll do my best," Leo said, his breathing normalizing.

"You let me know if you need help."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End. The next story in this series is called "Transitions"


End file.
